Hot Chocolate
by Fantine1
Summary: After some disturbing deaths, Ron and Hermione have an accidental late night meeting over a cup of hot chocolate.


A/N: If you've read any of my other stuff, you'll know that this is Ron/Hermione (the only way to be!) I don't like Dumbledore's speech in this story; I feel like there should be more to it, so if you've got suggestions, I'll be happy to hear them.  
Enjoy! ~Fantine  
  
  
  
Ron Weasley couldn't sleep. He had been tossing and turning for the last hour, and the gnawing in his stomach had been growing the whole time. It's not like it's exactly easy to relax, he thought. What with bloody You-Know-Who running around and things like…." His thoughts trailed off to earlier that day.  
  
***  
  
During Charms, Professor McGonagall had poked her ashen face through the door and called for Justin Finch-Fletchly. He disappeared with her, and didn't show up for lunch. When he was still missing during Care of Magical Creatures, Ron began to get curious, and Harry and Hermione both agreed that something was up.  
  
"Do you think he's been suspended?" Ron asked.  
  
"I doubt it," replied Hermione. "I'm a prefect. I think I would know if someone were being suspended. Besides, what's he done?"  
  
"Nothing," added Harry. "Who knows where he's gone off to."  
  
At dinner, they found out.   
  
An unusually solemn Dumbledore rose before the Great Hall, and, clearing his throat, said, "Students and teachers alike, may I have your attention please. Late last night, a student's parents were murdered by Voldemort or his followers. You may have noticed Mr. Finch-Fletchly missing from class today. Please do your best to be sensitive to his loss. Thank you." It was like someone had cast a Silencio spell over the hall. For a moment, no one spoke a word. Then slowly the normal chatter of the Great Hall resumed, expect for from the Hufflepuff table, which remained quiet long after the annoucement.  
  
Hermione had been strangely quiet for the remainder of dinner, and the reason struck Ron as they were leaving the Great Hall.   
  
"Better warn your mummy and daddy, mud-blood," hissed Draco as he passed by. "Finch-Fletchly isn't the only excuse for a wizard with Muggle parents around, now is he? Oops, I forgot. His parents aren't around any more, are they?"  
  
Ron and Harry whipped out their wands, but Professor Snape stalked over and sneered, "Is there a problem here, boys?" while Draco slipped away.  
  
"He won't bloody get away next time," Ron had seethed, and for once Hermione let him get away with cursing. She had been quiet all night, spending it as usual bent over her books, but not nagging Ron and Harry to do the same, even though O.W.L. s were fast approaching. When Ron and Harry had wearily climbed the stairs, she was still curled up in the corner, reading.  
  
***  
That's it, thought Ron, I have to have something to eat. He climbed out of bed, grabbed Harry's invisibility cloak from under Harry's bed, and draped it around his bare shoulders. He didn't bother with a shirt- it's not like anyone else is moving around the castle this time of night, and it's not like I care if Mrs. Norris sees me in only my pajama bottoms. As quietly as he could, Ron crept down the stairs, out of the common room door ( "Where are you going, dear?" asked the Pink Lady. "Snack," whispered Ron.) and down to the secret entrance to the kitchen, where he tickled the pear then crept in, shedding the invisibility cloak.  
  
Once in the door, Ron was mobbed by a pack of house else, led by Dobby.  
"Mr. Wheezy!! Dobby is delighted to see you, sir! Dobby is wondering if Harry Potter is coming down too, sir, as Harry Potter's friends are both here now!"  
  
"What?" asked Ron, "Who else is here?"  
  
"Ron?" called a voice from a table somewhere near the back of the kitchen. "Is that you?"  
  
Hermione's head peeked around the corner. Her hair was mostly pulled back, but, Ron could tell, did not like the idea of being controlled and was slipping out in curly strands.  
  
"What are you doing down here?" she asked, coming around the corner. "You're not allowed to be out of bed this late." She was wearing a short pink bathrobe, quite similar to the one she had been wearing the first night she was waiting to keep Rona and Harry from sneaking out to duel Malfoy, and pink bunny slippers. Ron blushed- one, because Hermione was in her pajamas, and while this hadn't mattered first year, it seemed very important now, and two, because he was suddenly very aware of how much he WASN'T wearing a shirt, and how his hair was sticking up in little peaks all over his head.  
  
"What are YOU doing out of bed this late, huh? Prefects aren't supposed to be breaking rules, I don't think."  
  
"Ron, I don't have be in bed when you do! That's the whole point of being a prefect. I just….I couldn't sleep, and my mum always makes me hot chocolate when I can't sleep. So I came down and got some. I was just about to drink it when you came in," she added, gesturing to her spot at the table which, Ron was amused to see, was set with not only a huge steaming mug of hot chocolate but also Advanced Charms~ Passing Your O.W.L.s. "So, what ARE you doing here?"  
  
"I couldn't sleep either," he replied, flopping in the chair next to hers. "I guess I'll have some hot chocolate too," he told a passing elf, who soon returned with a mug to match Hermione's.  
  
They sat in silence for a moment. Then Hermione turned to Ron and said, "Ron? Do you think Malfoy was serious? Are my parents in danger?"  
  
Ron blinked. What am I supposed to say? No Hermione, don't worry, even though your Muggle-born and that's what Voldemort hates, your parents are fine? I won't lie to her.  
  
"I don't know." She looked a bit baffled at his answer, then whispered, "Me either, " and began to cry silently, tears running down her face. Ron shifted awkwardly in his chair. There was nothing he wanted more than to go over and hold on to her until she stopped crying, to kiss the-whoa, Ron! None of that now. No letting on how I feel about her.  
  
A tear plopped into her hot chocolate, and she let out a little laugh though her tears. And then he couldn't help it. He got out of his chair and pulled her to the ground next him, wrapping his arm around her, which, for some reason unbeknownst to Ron, brought on a fresh barrage of sobs. He patted her head with his free hand, still feeling very awkward. Eventually, she pulled her face off of his shoulder, and he took a gulp of hot chocolate.  
  
"Sorry," she sniffled though hiccups." I've gotten you all wet." Then, as if realizing who he was,   
Hermione sat up straighter and blushed. She looked at him and let out a real laugh.   
  
"Ron, your hair!"  
  
"What about it?" he asked defensively, pulling his arm off of her shoulders.  
  
"It's all sticking up," she laughed.  
  
"So?"   
  
Hermione looked at him more seriously. "I like it." Then she smiled again, just barely this time, and reached out her finger to Ron's lip. "You've got chocolate on your lip," she whispered and wiped it off. Later, Ron would say it was so late that he finally worked up the courage, or that there was something in the hot chocolate. But what ever it was, he leaned forward and kissed her. Right there. In the middle of the kitchen.   
  
Hermione pulled back, her eyes wide with surprise, and Ron could feel his ears getting redder and redder.  
  
"Ron?" she said, her voice thick with shock, "Ron, did you just KISS me?"  
  
"Yes," he said miserably.  
  
She stared at him for a long moment, her cheeks pink and his face getting redder by the minute.  
  
"Ron, do you LIKE me?" she asked with disbelief. Ron didn't think it was possible to be anymore miserable than he was at the moment.  
  
"Yes," he mumbled. She stood up abruptly and put her hands on her hips. He followed suit.  
  
"Ronald Weasley," she began, in a tone that made Ron cringe in horror and embarrassment. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for you to do that?" Then, as if just realizing what she had said, she clapped her hands to her mouth and turned the same color as her bathrobe.  
  
"You WANTED me to kiss you?" said Ron, his voice sounding amazingly like hers had just minutes ago. She nodded, still flushed brilliant pink.   
  
"Well, then," he flashed her a cocky grin. "Do you want me to do it again?"  
  
"Ron!" she said in a voice that was clearly only an attempt to be serious. "Do you really think- " She was cut off when Ron's lips met hers because yes, he did really think that she wanted to be kissed again, right there in the kitchen. And she did. 


End file.
